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Roll Over Beethoven
"Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 hit single by Chuck Berry originally released on Chess Records, with "Drifting Heart" as the B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to replace classical music. The song has been covered by many other artists and Rolling Stone ranked it #97 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Inspiration and lyricshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roll_Over_Beethoven&action=edit&section=1 edit According to Rolling Stone and Cub Koda of Allmusic, Berry wrote the song in response to his sister Lucy always using the family piano to play classical music when Berry wanted to play contemporary popular music. In addition to classical composers Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, the lyrics mention or allude to several popular artists. "Early in the Mornin'" is the title of a Louis Jordan song and "Blue Suede Shoes" refers to the Carl Perkins song. Finally, "Hey Diddle Diddle" which comes from the nursery rhyme, "The Cat and the Fiddle", is an indirect reference to Berry's Chess stablemate Bo Diddley, who was an accomplished violin player. Although the lyrics mention rocking''and ''rolling, the music that the classics are supposed to step aside for is always referred to as "rhythm and blues" (R&B). Arthur Alexander appropriated the lyric "a shot of rhythm and blues" for the title of his later song. Later in the song, a "rhythm revue" describes the old style R&B show with many featured artists appearing on one bill in front of a big band. Releasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roll_Over_Beethoven&action=edit&section=2 edit Berry's version was originally released as a single by Chess Records in May 1956 with "Drifting Heart" as the B-side. "Roll Over Beethoven" and three other Berry songs appeared on the Rock, Rock, Rock album, ostensibly asoundtrack to the film of the same name, but only four of the twelve songs on the album appeared in the film. There have been many subsequent releases on compilation albums. Critical acclaimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roll_Over_Beethoven&action=edit&section=3 edit In 2003, Berry's single was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 2004, "Roll Over Beethoven" was ranked number 97 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In the accompanying review, they wrote that it "became the ultimate rock & roll call to arms, declaring a new era". However, some Chuck Berry fans claim that the intro sounds similar, if not identical, to Chuck Berry's most famous hit, "Johnny B. Goode". The sheet music itself is very similar. Koda calls it a "masterpiece" that helped to define therock and roll genre. Cover versionshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roll_Over_Beethoven&action=edit&section=4 edit |} "Roll Over Beethoven" is one of the most widely covered songs in popular music – "a staple of rock & roll bands" according to Koda[4] – with notable versions by Jerry Lee Lewis, The Beatlesand the Electric Light Orchestra. Other covers were recorded by Mountain, Ten Years After, Raul Seixas, Leon Russell, Status Quo, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, The 13th Floor Elevators,The Sonics, Wes Paul, Gene Vincent, Quartz, Johnny Winter, Uriah Heep, Kickhunter, Johnny Rivers, M. Ward, Iron Maiden, and Margaret Lewis. The Beatleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roll_Over_Beethoven&action=edit&section=5 edit "Roll Over Beethoven" was a favorite of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison even before they had chosen "the Beatles" as their name, and they continued to play it live right into their American tours of 1964. Their version of "Roll Over Beethoven" was recorded on July 30, 1963 for their second British LP, With the Beatles, and features Harrison on vocals and guitar. In the United States, it was released April 10, 1964 as the opening track of The Beatles' Second Album. and May 11, 1964 as the opening track of the second Capitol EP "Four by the Beatles". It was considered for a single release by Capitol until George Martin convinced Capitol Records to release "Can't Buy Me Love" as the new single instead. In 1994, the Beatles released a live version of "Roll Over Beethoven" on Live at the BBC. This live version was recorded on February 28, 1964 and broadcast on March 30, 1964 as part of aBBC series starring the Beatles called From Us to You. This version of "Roll Over Beethoven" was used in the film Superman III directed by Richard Lester who also directed the Beatles' first two films, Help! and A Hard Day's Night. The Rutles' song "Blue Suede Schubert" is based on the Beatles' cover of this song. Personnelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roll_Over_Beethoven&action=edit&section=6 edit *George Harrison – double-tracked vocals, lead guitar *John Lennon – handclaps, rhythm guitar *Paul McCartney – handclaps, bass *Ringo Starr – drums Electric Light Orchestrahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roll_Over_Beethoven&action=edit&section=7 edit |- | colspan="2" style="vertical-align:top;text-align:center;"| |} |} Electric Light Orchestra's (ELO) elaborate eight-minute reworking of "Roll Over Beethoven", appearing on the album ELO 2 in 1973, included an opening musical quote from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and clever interpolations of material from the symphony's first movement into Berry's song. This became ELO's signature song and was used to close all of their concerts. "Roll Over Beethoven" was the second single released by the band in January 1973, and became their second consecutive top ten hit in the UK, as well as a hit in the United States when an edited version of the track was taken from ELO 2. Category:1973 singles